It's cyclist vs. motorist on Staten Island's Bay Street

Advance photo/Michael McWeeneyAlex and John Luisi ride the "shared lane" in Stapleton.

The recently painted white chevron and bike symbols that have cropped up along Staten Island's Bay Street have left drivers and cyclists alike scratching their heads and wondering what, exactly, they are supposed to mean.

The city calls them "shared lanes," and they're designed for narrow streets that don't have enough room for a lane dedicated to bikes only. The painted markings are meant to increase awareness among drivers that cyclists are also using the busy road.

Here's a video look at the shared lanes:

Bike lanes?

Bike lanes on Staten IslandWe talked to John Luisi and hi son Alex, two long-time bicyclists, about the recently created bike path along Bay Street on Staten Island.

The markings, which run from the St. George Ferry Terminal to School Road along Bay, are painted largely along the street's parking lanes, keeping cyclists off to the side to varying degrees since the congested street is so narrow. In spots, the bike symbols and arrows lead cyclists toward the yellow lines in the center of the road, and that's where things start to get hairy, riders say.

With truck traffic, whizzing cars and abrupt parallel parking outside shops, biking on Bay shouldn't be attempted by the faint of heart.

The city's Department of Transportation explained its rationale when similar lanes were painted in Manhattan's Times Square and along Brooklyn's Fifth Avenue:

The lanes grant equal access to both cyclists and motorists, while encouraging bikers to ride "assertively" outside of the "door zone," where they are far enough away from parked cars to not get hit by an opening door.

Motorists are expected to be patient, the city says, and "pass bikes only with ample clearance at a modest speed."

Cyclists are also expected to stay clear of parking cars, maintain a reasonable pace and not pass cars on the left.

Got all that?

St. George attorney and avid cyclist John Luisi, a one-time hopeful to unseat Borough President James Molinaro, said it's nice to know the city is taking the needs of riders more seriously, but he questioned the propriety of the new Bay Street configuration.

"There is a need, but there's definitely a better way to do it," Luisi said.

The Bay Street markings seem almost designed to create conflict, Luisi said, calling the forced faceoff between cyclist and motorist "counterproductive."

And from the ferry to Rosebank, there are safer, faster and more attractive options to get around, he said.

Cyclists can now ride from the ferry terminal on a path along the waterfront esplanade through Bay Street Landing and along Front Street next to the former home port in Stapleton, where there is plenty of room, not to mention sweeping views of the harbor.

The shorefront road continues to the Alice Austen House at the foot of Hylan Boulevard in Rosebank.

The bike accommodations on Bay Street were planned as far back as 1997, when the route was identified as part of the city's Bike Master Plan.

The Master Plan also identified Front Street as a "Proposed Priority Route" in the 1997 bike route map, and the city hopes to build lanes there eventually, said DOT spokesman Seth Solomonow. But those plans are on hold while the city's Economic Development Corp. decides on future plans for the former Stapleton Home Port.

Meanwhile, the city is not able to install official DOT bike lanes along the esplanade through Bay Street Landing because the path is on private property, Solomonow said.

With bike lanes already in place along School Road, Lily Pond Avenue, Capodanno Boulevard, Midland Avenue and southernmost parts of Hylan Boulevard, the ultimate goal is to connect them all to allow bike riders to traverse the entire borough, Solomonow said.